Category: Dyeing

Sometimes we forget to really ask our colleagues difficult questions about their work. I am taking this opportunity to sit down and ask Asma Ismail a few things about the development of her art practice.

Rael: Why ACAD, viagra approved I am always really curious about the origin stories or decisions people make to attend art school.

Asma: honesty, sick it is because I did not know what else to do, and though it was a good foundation for building the potential for a masters later.

Rael: What was the most crucial material/technique that changed or developed your work now? Why

Asma: Natural dyes. Cause synthetic dyes seemed dull and not right. They was no connection to the dyeing process whereas the natural dye process is so demanding of my body, and constantly keeping me engaged and reworking around the unexpected turn of events.

I have really refined my floral designs throughout stencil making. I find that stencil cutting allows me to design with clarity and intention. Sketching directly on the stencil paper pushes me to commit to a design and work through the whole stencil. After most of the key components are decided and cut, view I make additions free handed with the Exacto knife. The immediacy is challenging and rewarding.

This shows the steps of how I star from a cut stencil, capsule then paste onto linen, prostate then once the linen is dyed the paste is washed away to reveal the pattern/

Completed indigo dyed linen sewn into pillows, tea towels, and coasters for the home. As you can see I am a little obsessed with gradient dying.

I am hoping to continue working on stenciling throughout the next phase of work I produce.

Plastic is a material consisting of a combination of synthetic organic compounds that can be formed into solid objects. The word ‘plastic’ itself means soft, men’s health workable, this or flexible and so from a manufacturing perspective it is easy to understand how it has become one of the most commonly used materials. Besides being one of the most adaptable materials, with its low cost production and useful properties such as resistance to water, plastic can be made literally any colour we can think of. As my embroidered hands series progresses I am changing the background fabric colour to an MX dyed cobalt blue to reflect the hue of a typical water bottle after it has been recycled several times. A transparent bottle becomes translucent over time, gradually fading to blue. The cobalt blue is an exaggeration of that, so that the new white thread colour stands out and remains the focus of the piece.

On the weekend I was busy cooking up a variety of colours for a natural dye printing sampler. This sampler shows thirty colours and eleven different modifiers making for a grand total of three hundred and thirty circlers. The modifers include: Cream of Tartar, sick Soda Ash, information pills Citric Acid, store Alum and Iron. The natural dye colours include: Weld, Buckthorn, Chamomile, Golden Rod, Osage, Marigold, Gallnut, Sumac, Madder, Lac, Brazilwood, Logwood, Henna and Black Walnut. I mixed a variety of these saturate dye pastes together to get secondary colours. I also mixed various ratios of alum and iron paste together, this creates the darker grey colours that appear on the cloth below. I will be teaching an introduction to printing with natural dyes workshop next semester, so stay tuned if you are interested in signing up. I received a grant from ACAD to teach this workshop so there will be no costs to students!
Above is a shot of the dye colours before I’ve added the modifiers.

For one of my projects I’ve been experimenting with two silk screen techniques called polychromatic and breakdown printing.

In polychromatic printing you use dye water to paint directly on the screen wait for the screen to dry then transfer your mark making/painting onto the cloth. You can get lovely textures from using different brushes and the marks appear light and watery. You can add multiple layers of dye water onto your screen but you must wait for your screen to completely dry before you add another layer. Adding multiple layers of dye colour will create brighter and more saturate results.

In breakdown printing you use thicken dye paste and paint directly onto your silk screen. You can play around with the thickness of your dye and add found textures like bubble wrap or lace. Let the screen dry overnight and then use it for printing the next day. Using the thicken dye pastes causes a resist on your screen. You can print about four or five times with the same screen before your thickened dye disappears.

I have been seduced by clay within the last year and I am constantly looking for connections, stuff possibilities, herbal and relationships to textiles and fibre. I have found that there are many connections in processes,materials. Last year I did some research into slip casting and burning out textiles leaving ghost like fabric impressions (left image).

I recently found this small group of artists that form Atelier Murmur. Wang Zhuo, Jiang Xinhe, Sun Jinjin work collectively from Hangzhou, China. Their ceramics are who found a clever way to use fabric dying and combine it with slip casting. Instead of traditional glaze application, they dye textiles with mineral pigments then incorporate them right into the slip casting process. I love the subtle dye-like impressions left from the textiles. The play on soft textile and hard porcelain surfaces is really unique.

A lot of my inspiration has always come from nature. This past summer working in a greenhouse I had the opportunity not only work with plants but also enjoy the beauty nature truly can offer. I have been playing with photos of geraniums and using them as the subjects for katagami stencils this year.

After steaming the dough for paste

My understanding of stencil design and proper execution is still in progress. I am hoping that by committing to it for a full year that I can dramatically improve my skills. There are definite challenges that I recently encountered prepping the nori paste for stenciling. Making nori sounds easy, health
but mixing it takes alot of commitment. Just picture mixing the tackiest glue you can think of until you arms are so tired they want to fall off.

Dipping in indigo.

Also, about it
when you are working with a tiny vat, pill
you have to get really creative with hangers.

Creating festive and fun variegated yarn using the slow cooker method is super satisfying and only slightly more difficult than dyeing solid coloured yarn. The only difference happens at “Step 2”.

For this process I prefer to use the Clubhouse dyes because they are so easy with their little squeezy dropper bottles. The Wilton Icing Gels can also be used as long as you thoroughly mix the gel with a bit of water before adding it to the slow cooker. Remember, website the Wilton dyes are really concentrated so you will only need the smallest amount for this technique.

While your yarn is being pre-treated select a few colours you would like to work with. I usually choose 3 or 4 colours I know will be friendly with each other. Carefully drop one colour into the slow cooker at a time making sure to leave ample white space. Here are three examples of colour combinations I have used:

Once you have your dye in the slow cooker, carefully place the lid on top and leave it for at least 2 hours. It is very important that you don’t stir or bump the slow cooker. If you do, your dyes will meet and mingle and most likely ruin your variegated intentions and leave you with a yucky, muddy colour.

After the dye bath has been exhausted I like to poke around a bit to ensure there are no undesired chunks of white yarn. If I find some, I carefully rearrange the yarn, exposing the parts where the colour hasn’t reached and add some more dye. Pop the lid back on and let the slow cooker continue with its magic.

Slow cooker dyeing is really easy and can lead to some very satisfying results. I can’t be bothered with the measuring, abortion weighing, approved math and babysitting involved in traditional dye methods so I will leave that to the Fibre Witches. If you, illness like me, are half-assed about such things I suggest trying your hand at slow cooker dyeing. Here is summary of the process I spoke of in my PechaKucha last week.

* If your yarn is in a ball, that sucks. You need to make it into skeins.

Other Useful Equipment

measuring spoons

buttter knife

tongs

salad spinner

Step 1: Pre-treat Your Yarn
Place your yarn in the slow cooker and cover it with cool to room temperature water. I always push the yarn to the bottom of the slow cooker to ensure that it is saturated and as little water is used as possible. Now add some vinegar. I use a splishy-splash for a small amount of yarn, a splash for a bit more yarn and a couple of glugs for a bunch of yarn. Place the lid on your slow cooker, turn it to high. Leave it for about 15 minutes or until you can see condensation building on the lid. Once this happens you know your yarn has been pre-treated.

Dye bath – exhausted!

Step 2: Add Your Dye
I don’t really measure my dyes but you can be as particular about this as you want, especially if you are hoping to replicate exact colours. When using Club House dyes I would start with about 3/8 of a teaspoon and maybe a skimpy 1/8 teaspoon for the Wilton dyes (they are very concentrated). Give the water a quick swirl, if you like the colour you see put the lid back on the slow cooker and walk away for 2 or 3 or 5 hours. It doesn’t really matter.

Step 3: Check Your Yarn
Generally, I check my yarn around the 2 hour mark. If it looks like your dye bath exhausted – great! If not, put the lid back on and check again in a bit.
Step 4: Rinse, Spin, Dry.
Once the dye bath has been exhausted you can take your yarn out and give it a rinse. I usually dump the yarn into a strainer and let it cool down for a while. Once I can comfortably handle the yarn I give it a quick rinse, a squeeze and a few spins in my salad spinner. The salad spinner is totally optional but it really helps get the excess water out of your yarn. Now you can hang your yarn to dry. Done. Easy peasy.

Below is a shot of the different greens I was able to achieve using the Club House greens in “Neon” and regular and the Wilton dyes in “Leaf” and “Moss”. To get the pastel mint green on the far right I dipped just the tip of a butter knife into the Leaf Green and swirled it into the water. I have had less success making pastel colours with the Club House dyes.

From L-R: Club House Neon Green, Wilton Moss, Club House Green, Wilton Leaf, Wilton Leaf

I was re-introduced to clay last year and fell in love. I am constantly looking for connections, tadalafil possibilities, advice and relationships clay has to textiles and fibre. I have found that there many similarities in processes, help materials, surfaces. Last year I did some research into slip casting and burning out textiles leaving ghost like fabric impressions (left image).

I recently found this small group of artists that form Atelier Murmur. Wang Zhuo, Jiang Xinhe, Sun Jinjin work collectively from Hangzhou, China. Their ceramics are who found a clever way to use fabric dying and combine it with slip casting. Instead of traditional glaze application, they dye textiles with mineral pigments then incorporate them right into the slip casting process. I love the subtle dye-like impressions and fabric texture left behind in the finished ceramic work.

I have been working on different types of weaving with different fibres and different dyeing processes. Here are some results you may have already seen:

One thing I had never tried was dyeing my own skein of yarn, which led me to my next project…

I had a skein of plain white wool which I dyed using 4 different colours of fibre reactive dyes in squirt bottles. I laid out the skein, applied my dye, and let it sit overnight wrapped up in plastic. When I went to wash out the dye the next morning, all of the colours seemed to have bled into each other, creating a VERY subtle colour. Although it wasn’t what I was expecting the colour to turn out like, I was quite happy with the end product. Here are some progress shots of the wool once it was dyed and then turned into a woven scarf:

Trying out this new process was really fun for me and I think I will definitely use it again and try it with a different material.

I came across a wonderful artist on Instagram named Sydney Sogol (@sydsthread). She primarily works with weaving and dyeing her own yarns – no wonder I found myself interested in her!

Sydney completed her Bachelor of Arts in Weaving and minor in Biology at Earlham College and then completed her MFA in Textile Design from East Carolina University. Her work is very inspirational to me because of the beautiful colours and patterns she creates in her weaving. You can see how unique each piece is because she hand-paints most of her warps and dyes her other yarns.

I’ve gotten a lot of inpiration and tips and tricks from seeing her work and her process. In one of my classes this semester I have been focusing on hand-dyeing my own weaving which I had never done before and was partially inspired by seeing Sydney’s work.

Not only does she make beautiful functional pieces, mycoplasmosis she also makes work she calls ‘woven paintings’. This body of work is another reason why she is an inspiration to me because they show how weaving, which is traditionally all about functional use, can be brought into a completely different atmosphere and can be looked at as fine art as compared to craft. My work tends to focus on the functional side of weaving, so being able to see this series of work is important for me in order to remind myself that I can branch out and try something different with my woven work.

So go check out her instagram page to follow her process and to keep up to date with her most current work! Also give her website a look to see her woven paintings series and a lot more professional work!

I have two sides of my practice: weaving and…basically everything else (usually with a hand-dyed element). I have never tried incorporating hand-dyeing in my weaving and so this semester that is what I’m working on.

I have done one project so far, see in which I wove a plain white scarf and then dyed it afterwards with fibre reactives. I always work with vibrant, beautiful colours so weaving initially with just white was a little different for me! I had to keep reminding myself that I was going to add colour later.

Most recently I’ve mainly been working with bamboo, but after being told about tencel and how it is similar to bamboo but is more environmentally friendly, I wanted to give it a try. My aim was to mix different materials and then dye it together to see how they would pick up the dye differently when already woven.

This was my scarf immediately after taking it off of the loom. I used tencel for the warp and organic cotton for the weft. I used a more simple twill weave so as to focus more on the dyeing technique than the weaving pattern. I also tried something new for the hemming – a simple hemstitch – while the scarf was still on the loom. It saved me a lot of time in the long run which I appreciated.

This is sadly one of the better photos I captured showing my first dye dip. I wanted to achieve an ombre affect in the purple dye as my first step. This photo shows the lightest and darkest areas. When seeing it in person, I was much happier with the results.

This was the finished result after the second dip in a navy dye. To get the pattern shown on the bottom of the scarf, I did a simple tie with rubber bands.

I was extremely happy with my finished product and I will continue to experiment with different mixtures of colours and materials.

Last week I went to check out the library book sale that ACAD had going on and I found some goodies! The one I was most excited about was this “Kaleidoscope – New Quilts from an Old Favorite” book.

photo by Madison Appleton

I have made a couple blankets in the past and have really enjoyed the process. Lately I have been thinking about learning how to quilt but what scares me is how precise and exact you have to be. The style of quilts that you traditionally see are very…well, more about traditional, ailment so it was nice to see the quilts in this book which are more brightly coloured and ‘funky’. This style of quilting interests me a lot more and fits more with my practice using crystals and the geometric shape. The use of colour in the quilts in this book inspire me to continue using such vibrant colours in my work.

~Madde~

An interview with Madde Appleton

Q. Did you always know you wanted to go into fibre when you came to ACAD?

“I had no idea! I tried out a lot of different areas in my first year, seek and even in my second year. But after my first year I definitely started to realize fibre was one of my favourites, and that interest has continued to grow ever since!”

Q. What do you like to focus on in your practice? (materials, techniques, concept?)

“I like to focus on the colours of my materials and the tactile nature they provide. I like my materials to be soft, often giving off the feeling of comfort and making one feel cozy. My materials are usually very colourful and bright. “

Q. What is one of your pieces (or series) that you are the most proud of?

“Something that I am most proud of would probably have to be a set of 2 handwoven bamboo scarves I made at the end of my third year. They were the product of trying something new: a new loom, new materials, new patterns, new techniques. I was super happy with how they turned out and by trying something new I fell in love with another material, bamboo, which I now will use in my weaving quite frequently!”

Hello! My name is Caroline and I am a recent graduate from Sheridan College’s Textile Design program. I have recently joined ACAD’s fibre community this fall. Here you can see the work I’ve created in my previous program. I’ll be adding new work I’ve made at ACAD during the winter break!

I use squarespace as my website platform and I have to admit using this site is pretty fantastic. Students receive 50% off their first year of signing up! The website is very easy to navigate and put together making it user friendly. Plus they have great tech support and online instructions if you need help using the site. It’s definitely worth checking out.

In an effort to condense my ideas and make them applicable to my practice, rehabilitation
I have began to narrow in on suspension as a way to affect a public space or gallery space. From the beginning of this exploration I was interested in tension of materials; although a suspended piece can never actually float in space, unhealthy therefore removing some obvious tension, medical the placement and angle can have an effect on how it is viewed and how the materials have a conversation with one another.

I feel excited about this path, and also feel resolved in having a more succinct idea. However, I will continue to see how the process of making affects they way I speak to the work.

I have started looking at a couple textile artists who beautifully utilize suspension. One that stood out to me in particular was Ken Unsworth. He is an Australian sculptural and installation artist. The work that caught my eye was a series of suspended rocks, held by a massive amount of thread. He is interested in creating sculptures that play on memory. The experience happens either in person with the memory that is taken away from seeing the work, or through a rumour of a memory. This gives the work an ephemerality that I admire.

The tension created in this work is exactly what I love: an ode to the soft being strong.

-Marcia

Source:

In an effort to condense my ideas and make them applicable to my practice, geriatrician
I have began to narrow in on suspension as a way to affect a public space or gallery space. From the beginning of this exploration I was interested in tension of materials; although a suspended piece can never actually float in space, prescription therefore removing some obvious tension, the placement and angle can have an effect on how it is viewed and how the materials have a conversation with one another.

I feel excited about this path, and also feel resolved in having a more succinct idea. However, I will continue to see how the process of making affects they way I speak to the work.

I have started looking at a couple textile artists who beautifully utilize suspension. One that stood out to me in particular was Ken Unsworth. He is an Australian sculptural and installation artist. The work that caught my eye was a series of suspended rocks, held by a massive amount of thread. He is interested in creating sculptures that play on memory. The experience happens either in person with the memory that is taken away from seeing the work, or through a rumour of a memory. This gives the work an ephemerality that I admire.

The tension created in this work is exactly what I love: an ode to the soft being strong.

-Marcia

Work Cited:

“Suspended Stone Circle II, (1974-1977, 1988) by Ken Unsworth.” Art Gallery NSW. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
With my Jacquard weaving up on the Poly & Esther Gallery wall, treat I thought it would be a good time to post about the work I have been doing in my other fourth year directed studio.

I love the possibility of working with imagery in Jacquard weaving. However, I am focused on making this imagery as reliant on light and shadow as I am with my sculptural pieces. I am very interested in the story that can be read into broken imagery. I chose the broken twill weave structure because of the way it causes the image to break down the closer you get to it. In this work, I am speaking to spaces of the mind. I believe the ability for the work to appear clear the further away you are adds depth to the concept of the work.

Marcia Fisher. Mindscaping Detail, 2015.

I have not taken the time to specifically explore topics of the mind in my practice before, but it is something that I have always found interest in. I am very happy with how this investigation and the resulting work turned out.

Marcia Fisher. Mindscaping Detail, 2015.

I am also very lucky that the Jacquard loom worked almost flawlessly for me this semester. This is nearly unheard of and made for one very happy weaver!

-Marcia
The Fibre 2-D class is learning about solar dyeing with natural dyes. Students have access to our commercial natural dyes as well they were asked to source some of their own materials such as pomegranate seeds and skins, sick
onion skins, coffee and teas. The studios are alive with colour!